Georgia boosts black male enrollment, graduation

Black male college enrollment rose by 80 percent in Georgia from 2002 to 2011, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. Black males earned nearly 60 percent more college degrees and the six-year graduation rate increased to 40 percent for black males who started college in 2005, “an 11 percentage-point uptick since the program’s inception.” The African-American Male Initiative, a statewide program, reported its results at the American Council on Education’s annual meeting.

At the College of Coastal Georgia . . . incoming black male freshmen can take part in a “Summer Bridge & Go” program, which includes eight weeks of advanced instruction in reading, writing, and mathematics, and a chance to connect with campus mentors.

Columbus State University, meanwhile, offers Projecting Hope, which aims to help black male students from rural areas. Georgia Highlands College has a first-year experience program for black males by way of the Georgia Highlands African-American and Minority Male Excellence organization.

The ACE discussion of boosting minority success also featured the Academy for College Excellence, a program for “struggling but strong” community-college students that began at Cabrillo College in California, and North Carolina A&T University’s Middle College, a single-sex public high school for male students on the university’s Greensboro campus.